1. Introduction

1.1 The year 1997 marked important anniversaries
of two men with ties to Lüneburg: the 300th anniversary of the death of
Christian Flor and the 250th of the birth of Johann Abraham Peter Schulz.
This volume of essays was produced by a team of several scholars, with
the support of the city of Lüneburgs Ratsbücherei. In the same year the
city mounted an exhibition about Flor and Schulz, to which some references
are made in the book.

1.2 Christian Flors connection with the
city was long-standing. Born in Neukirchen in Holstein in 1626, he moved
to Lüneburg in 1654 at the latest and remained there until he died 43
years later. Schulz was born and received his earliest musical education
in Lüneburg, but he moved away at the age of 18. He maintained some contact
with his birthplace in later years. The volume is weighted toward Flor,
with five original essays about him and only one new essay about Schulz.
A second lengthy essay about Schulz is a reprint.

2. Essays about Christian
Flor

2.1 Christian Flor, immediate predecessor
to Georg Böhm as organist at Lüneburgs St. Johannis church, composed
one of the earliest oratorio Passions. He is probably best known as the
composer of music for two volumes of poetry by Johann Rist (1607–1667),
a well-known theologian and poet. Flors keyboard music is becoming better
known through editions and facsimiles.

2.2 Arndt Schnoors essay, Christian Flor
und das Lüneburger Musikleben seiner Zeit, offers details about the gradual
rise in the quality of the citys musical life from 1650 through the end
of the century. The reader learns almost as much about Flors Lüneburg
colleagues, including Michael Jacobi, Christian Görtner, Friedrich Funke,
and Johann Jacob Löwe, as he does about Flor. In addition, Schnoor provides
archival documents, such as Flors 1689 evaluation of the glockenspiel
at the Lüneburg Rathaus. Schnoors Christian Flors Werke für Tasteninstrumente
is a brief study which points out general stylistic traits. Appended to
the essay is a modern edition of Flors E-major suite.

2.3 The longest essay about Flor in the
volume is Joachim Kremers Der kunstbemühte Meister: Christian
Flor als Liedkomponist Johann Rists. Kremer is also author of a book
on the north German Kantorat in Hamburg.1
Johann Rist collaborated with a number of composers in his quest for the
perfect sacred music, engaging Flor for two of his last three collections
of sacred poems. The two collections, both entitled Neues Musikalisches
Seelenparadies, were published in Lüneburg in 1660 and 1662. In the
face of criticism that his melodies were too florid, Flor demonstrated
that they could be reduced to simple chorale melodies. Nevertheless, the
melodies as published remained beyond the reach of congregational singers.
To criticism from Rist that Flors melodies did not suit the affect of
all stanzas, Flor replied that Rist always sent him just the first strophe.
Kremer documents the controversy over Flors music well, including several
musical examples. In the latter part of the essay Kremer discusses Rists
and Flors connections to Pietism. Kremers   . . . tanzet, springet in die
Wette . . .: Über Christian Flors Vokalkompositionen focuses on Flors music
for special occasions, such as weddings and funerals. Kremer analyzes
and provides the music for the 1659 wedding composition, Auf, hört
ihr meine Sinnen. He also analyzes and gives musical examples from
the funeral composition, Es ist gnug.

2.4 In his Zum Nachwirken Christian Flors,
Schnoor concludes that not enough of Flors works are extant to make a
proper judgment about Flors influence. It is noteworthy, as he points
out, that some of Flors works are to be found in the Uppsala Düben Collection.
Also significant is the fact that both J.G. Walther and J. Mattheson include
Flor in their lexicons. Hilde Szwerinskis Verzeichnis der erhaltenen
und nachweisbaren Werke Christian Flors sowie der von ihm aufgezeichneten
Kompositionen is a useful catalogue, including information about extant
copies and modern editions of Flors music. Bruce Gustafsons facsimile
edition of Lüneburg, Ratsbücherei, Mus. ant. pract. 1198 makes
Flors music more widely available than it previously was.2

2.5 Friedrich Jekutschs Ausstellungskatalog
Christian Flor lists the items of the 1997 exhibition. Altogether there
are 47 items organized under six categories: Early Years, Musical Life
in Lüneburg in the 17th Century, Organist at St. Lamberti and St. Johannis,
Flors Compositions, Flor as Adjudicator of Organs, and Death and Influence.
Among the most interesting items displayed were those from the Lüneburg
Stadtarchiv in Flors hand. These included his 1663 application for the
cantors position at St. Johannis and his 1676 application for the organists
position at the same church. It also included a document which Flor, together
with organists from two other churches, wrote to the Lüneburg city council
complaining of the their poor salaries.

2.6 Hilde Szwerinskis Auswahlbibliographie
is divided into three parts: (1) lexicons, catalogues, and handbooks;
(2) secondary literature; and (3) music editions. The only noteworthy
omission I found is Gustav Focks book on the organists of the Johannis
church.3 Those with
an interest in Lüneburgs musical life in the Baroque period might also
turn to Harald Müllers Ulrich Johann Voigt, 1669–1732: Stadtmusikus
zu Celle und Lüneburg.4

3. Essays about
Johann Abraham Peter Schulz

3.1 The leader of the so-called Second
Berlin Song School, J.A.P. Schulz was not just a composer, but also a
writer about music. A student of Johann Philipp Kirnberger, Schulz played
a major role in the writing of Kirnbergers Allgemeine Theorie der
schönen Künste (1771–1774) and Die wahren Grundsätze zum Gebrauch
der Harmonie (1773). Schulzs most influential work as a composer
was Lieder im Volkston (1782, 1785–1790), a work in which he sought
simultaneously to heighten the meaning of the text and to create folk-like
melodies. Schulz also composed music for the stage.

3.2 Heinz Gottwaldt is known to scholars
in the field as the editor of Schulzs music for Racines Athalie.5
His contribution about Schulz in the present volume, published here as
two essays, first appeared in three parts in Lüneburger Blätter (vol. 6, 1955 and vol. 11/12, 1961). It is entitled Johann Abraham Peter
Schulz: autobiographische Skizze. The original copy of Schulzs autobiography
is now lost, but later copies survive. In extensive commentaries following
passages from the autobiography, Gottwaldt provides relevant historical
and sociological information. He also corrects inaccuracies in Schulzs
text. Arndt Schnoor, in a new essay entitled Johann Abraham Peter Schulz:
Weltbürger und musicus politicus, follows up on the Gottwaldt
essay. Schnoor describes well the changing role of the church in the musical
life of Germany in the late eighteenth century. One understands why Schulz
was not content to follow a path similar to Flor. Schnoor culls materials
from late twentieth-century German and Danish scholarship in his sketch
of Schulzs relationships with his employers and other political figures.

3.3 Friedrich Jekutschs Ausstellungskatalog
Johann Abraham Peter Schulz contains a record of the 42 items displayed
in the 1997 Lüneburg exhibition. They are divided into six categories:
Places Important in Schulzs Life, Vocal Compositions, Instrumental Compositions,
Theoretical Writings, Compositions Based on Melodies by Schulz, and Works
about Johann Abraham Peter Schulz.

3.4 There is no separate bibliography for
Schulz, as there is for Flor. Schnoors article on Schulz contains a selected
bibliography at the end which serves the purposes of that article. Among
other articles about Schulz are the following: Wilhelm Schulte, J.A.P.
Schulz, a Protagonist of the Musical Enlightenment: Lieder im Volkston,6Jürgen
Mainka, Berlin (1774) - Rheinsberg (1784) - Copenhagen (1790). Hofzeremoniell
und Musikstruktur,7Bathia
Churgin, The Symphony as Described by J.A.P. Schulz (1774): A Commentary
and Translation,8Joan
O. Falconer, The Second Berlin Song School in America,9 and Jürgen Mainka, J.A.P. Schulz Athalia - Ein Beitrag zur Untersuchung
der Beziehungen des Sturm und Drang zum Klassizismus.10

4. General Evaluation

4.1 The volume is free of significant misprints.
On page 179, at the start of the editors note, Hans Gottwaldt should
read Heinz Gottwaldt.

4.2 The essays in this book bring together
two figures who lived in Lüneburg about a century apart. Comparisons between
the two eras are not made. On the other hand, these essays go far beyond
the boundaries of Lüneburg. For example, Schnoors and Gottwaldts essays
describe all of Schulzs life, much of which was spent in Berlin, Rheinsberg,
and Copenhagen. Because of the depth and wide-ranging nature of these
essays, the authors have given a significant historical view of the city.

References

*Dianne M. McMullen (mcmulled@union.edu)
is Assistant Professor of Music and College Organist at Union College
in Schenectady, NY. Her current research focuses on Renaissance dance
music and on the German Lutheran chorale at the time of J.S. Bach. Return to beginning

Copyright Statement

[1] Copyrights for individual items
published in The Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music (JSCM)
are held by their authors. Items appearing in JSCM may be saved
and stored in electronic or paper form, and may be shared among individuals
for purposes of scholarly research or discussion, but may not be
republished in any form, electronic or print, without prior, written permission
from the author(s), and advance notification of the editors of JSCM.

[2] Any redistributed form of items
published in JSCM must include the following information in a form
appropriate to the medium in which the items are to appear:

This item appeared in The Journal
of Seventeenth-Century Music in [VOLUME #, ISSUE #] on [DAY/MONTH/YEAR].
It was authored by [FULL NAME, EMAIL ADDRESS], with whose written permission
it is reprinted here.

[3] Libraries may archive issues of
JSCM in electronic or paper form for public access so long as each
issue is stored in its entirety, and no access fee is charged. Exceptions
to these requirements must be approved in writing by the editors of JSCM,
who will act in accordance with the decisions of the Society for Seventeenth-Century
Music.

[4] Citations to articles from JSCM
should include the URL as found at the beginning of the article and the
paragraph number; for example: